The Reporter's Process
by The True North
Summary: AU: When Harry strides towards Malfoy to listen in on the train, he runs into the most unlikely girl on his way. The changes this causes will be far reaching and interesting in terms for the new year.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Reporter's Process**_

_**Rated: T (It may change)  
Pairing: H/Lavender (A uncommon match, but I assure you I know how to pull it off.)**_

_**Era: Sixth Year, starting on the Train.**_

_**I do not in any way own the HP Universe. It belongs to Rowling and I intend only to play with it upon her permission.**_

_**Thank you for reading this far and being interested at all with this story. I am North, and I will be guiding you through quite the interesting plot. The story is based off of a simple premise; what if Lavender was attracted to Harry instead of Ron? This is how my stories work, change a small part of the world and the universe shifts to accommodate it.**_

_**Chapter 1: Comfortable Silence**_

Harry James Potter strode through the hallway as quickly as he could while still remaining invisible. Draco Malfoy was up to something, and Harry was extremely curious; from the moment he saw the blonde enter Knockturne and go to Borgin and Burke's shop he knew something terrible was surfacing. It did not help that the older Malfoy was now in Jail, and the properties of the Black Estate were in flux now that Sirius had died. While it was a complicated matter, what it essentially boiled down to was that even though Draco Malfoy was the closest familial relative to Sirius and thus the heir by pureblood law, Harry was in the will and related in a less obvious way through his grandmother.

This made for a fascinating legal battle which ended in Harry becoming owner of Grimmauld Manor and giving rights of use to Dumbledore for his Order. This meant that with Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban, his accounts would be frozen and Narcissa his wife would now be living off of the Black family savings. It would make sense that this savings would also be what funded Voldemort's reign of chaos the first time around and his rise as of now. Long story short, Malfoy is now poor. Harry was wondering what he could be wanting at the shady merchant's store with the money he had or perhaps whether the young man was bartering with the steadily decaying old man.

Harry was suspicious that Malfoy would not even come to Hogwarts for his sixth year, he was sure that the Malfoy scion had taken the Dark Mark, so why would he be at the school? That was what led him now to striding towards the back compartments under his invisibility cloak wanting to understand a little more about this 'master plan' in the works. Malfoy was not one to keep a tight lid on his plans, so Harry assumed he could possibly hear some of this plan by hiding in the same compartment. It would be tricky, being out of sight and out of mind meant never touching a single one of them. Malfoy was an evil prat but he wasn't an idiot. If he so much as breathed wrong he would be caught.

It was at this stage of the plan that things went terribly awry. Harry was too far deep in thought and while the carriages were sparsely populated he still had not expected one door to open to his left and someone to nearly barrel into him at a speed too quick to dodge.

A feminine grunt was all he heard as he suddenly became tangled in the now damnable cloak as he crashed to the floor. His head poked out of the cloak now and green eyes met brown ones and a bright smile lit up her face.  
"Harry! What are you…Oh Merlin I'm so sorry, I must have run into you!"

In a sense it was more surprising to see this particular girl in the hallway than it should have been. Lavender Brown had flown under his notice for years; in fact he could barely remember the girl except in snippets of memories from the past few semesters. Looking at her now he nearly kicked himself for that fact. Sitting in front of him on her knees, hovering over him with a look of concern was this sandy blonde haired young woman with deep almond brown eyes with a spark in them like some sort of firework was being lit. Her face was cute and heart shaped, while her pale skin clashed with the black Hogwarts robes she already wore. It was infinitely disturbing to Harry to realize for a split second that this girl was in his year, in his very same house and he had ignored it up until she had _literally_ run into him.

"No, no…It was my fault. I was trying to…err…find somewhere private without getting noticed."  
All the little bells and whistles inside his head were cheering him on for although fumbling through it, giving an excellent half truth he would describe as almost Dumbledore worthy. Lavender spooked him though with one upraised eyebrow and a quirked smile. Harry thought he might have seen the spark turn into a wildfire in her eyes as well.

"I see. Was it really important?" she asked quietly, looking around the hallway.

Harry scrambled for something to say, he couldn't just say he was looking for Malfoy. His own best friends refused to believe his theories about the young heir so how could he expect someone who did not even remotely know of his…obsessive qualities…to understand where he was coming from? Answer yes, and have tons of questions to answer, say no and then the entire plan goes down the toilet and his chances for finding out about Malfoy are finished. Then another thought occurred; why does finding out _right now_ matter so much? Certainly Malfoy would have to be at school for anything to be accomplished and unless he wanted to be noticed too early he would have to wait a while into the semester. Harry could wait, he would certainly wonder and obsess but he _could_ wait.

"No, not really." He said with as much confidence as he could muster. The horror in his eyes when he realized that Lavender now wore a smug grin confirmed his worst nightmare. She most certainly _did not_ believe a single word he said, but would make him pay dearly for it. Why couldn't he learn more deception from Snape?

"Oh, well then you were just trying to be alone for a little while?" Harry couldn't place it, but he knew something was coming. He felt like his reply to this question would determine far more than he wanted to know.

"Yes."

And without even a hint of hesitation she said "Well join Parvarti and I! I promise we will be quiet and surely you wouldn't tell me that our company is that distasteful would you?"

Oh sweet Merlin it was a trap! And he couldn't do a bloody thing about it either!

"No, I mean yes…well sure I'll join you two. But wouldn't I be intruding? And Parvarti and I aren't exactly on good terms." Flashbacks of the Yule ball and his idiocy made him mentally cringe.

Lavender waved it off with a smile and led him back towards the door she had run at him through only a minute prior. "Water under the bridge! I'm sure if you just apologize outright everything will be fine. We were fourteen, and boys can be so very stupid sometimes so I'm sure she will understand. After all, you weren't nearly as bad a date as Weasley turned out to be. Poor Padma."

Lavender quickly opened the door, giving Harry no room for a rebuttal. The room was quiet as she had promised, with only Parvarti in the room as well reading a Teen Witch Weekly with a chocolate frog box opened on her lap. Her legs were crossed and she looked up with darker brown eyes at the two with utter surprise. Harry had to admit he remembered very little of the Indian girl but perhaps that was his own mistake, he may have had a lot going on that year but that was no excuse for treating her so poorly.

"Look who I found Parvarti! Ran right into him."

Parvarti herself had a smug grin not unlike what Lavender had on when she trapped him into this situation in the first place. She put down her magazine, the moving pictures of incredibly attractive young celebrities acting outraged that she would put them down for even a moment.

"And where did you find him?" she said, looking past Harry and at the blonde haired girl.  
"Just outside the hallway, Granger and Weasley were giving him trouble it seems so he wanted to be alone. I invited him to come to our quiet carriage so that he didn't have to deal with the rest of the populace."

Parvarti laughed in a way that Harry could only imagine belonged to the most feminine figure. Then she gave Lavender a pointed look that Harry could not for the life of him decipher that made Lavender herself redden slightly. "Aren't those two prefects now? No offense Harry but your friend did not deserve that second Gryffindor spot. I would have much rather seen you get it after everything that has happened lately, or even McLaggen… that boy is a tosser but at least he has leader potential."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck waiting for the light blush to fade. He figured that Dumbledore would have wanted less attention on him this year, but the fact that has Quidditch Captain this time around did not lend much weight to that.  
"Well thank you Parvarti, it means a lot knowing that you'd want me as the Prefect. And…I know it has been a long time already but I wanted to apologize for my behavior during the Yule Ball. "

Parvarti shrugged, but nodded all the same, her dark hair falling in front of her eyes for a moment.  
"No worries Harry. I know that was a rough year for you, and I might or might not have used it as an opportunity to go to the Ball with a champion." She said with a smirk. She held out her hand and Harry shook it lightly and found himself smiling.  
"Enough of old wounds though, how was your summer?" Lavender said with a grin, sitting down next to her friend and pointing towards the other side for Harry to sit down. He did so without much resistance, their company wasn't bad, and he probably did need this time to be worry free.

"It was fine, I spent a good deal of it with the Weasleys and Hermione."  
Both girls raised their eyebrows ever so slightly, Parvarti tilted her head to the side.  
"You don't like your relatives?" Lavender elbowed her friend sharply and glared at her before quickly saying "You don't have to answer that Harry."

Harry thought about it though for a moment, why not tell them? There was no harm in it, and while in his earlier years he would have been worried about them pitying him, after all these years he didn't think it would be all that surprising.  
"It's okay Lavender, and no I don't like my relatives. And the feeling is mutual. I live with my Aunt and Uncle from my Mum's side and it seems my Aunt never really got over her anger at my Mum for whatever was wrong with their relationship in the past. I gave up hoping for love from them a long time ago, so I spend as much time as possible away from that house."

Both girls had worried frowns marring their faces, but nodded and changed the topic completely. Parvarti ended it with "Thank you for sharing Harry, I'm the same way. My parents are very traditional and Padma feels the need to show her intelligence to make them proud. I want to live my life with color and radiance so I plan on being a magical clothier or fashion artist. My family does not approve, so to a large extent I am on my own and it is perhaps the main reason Padma and I are not very close."

There was a nod between the two and after a few moments in silence Lavender picked up a newspaper. Harry wondered why but soon realized what was going on when Parvarti picked up her magazine and perused it. It was something he wasn't aware could exist with his normal friends. Friendly silence, that sort of comfortable quiet that frankly Harry had never really experienced. Quiet with the Dursleys meant that a storm was coming, and quiet with his normal friends meant that either someone was mad at someone else or that Hermione simply got lost in her thoughts.

Harry looked around and remembered that his trunk was still in the compartment with Neville and Ginny, so he couldn't read any of his textbooks. Somehow Lavender had read his mind and handed him a newspaper. It wasn't the prophet though, it was some sort of independent paper like the Quibbler, only…less insane. Articles on the confirmed return of Voldemort, censuses of known Deatheaters as well as lists of the people who were freed during the first war after it ended. There was a brief summary of how the war began and how it ended with a less fantastical telling that Harry was used to on how he ended the war that night on Halloween. There was a small thank you to Harry, and what surprised him the most was also thanks to both James and Lily Potter for their role in the war and sacrifice in the name of good for their son. It warmed Harry's heart to see their names being thanked alongside his for once, acknowledging their role in the whole ordeal.

Not once did Harry rethink his decision to go along with Lavender and spend the ride with her and Parvarti Patil. He may have lost his first chance to learn Malfoy's plans but there would be more. And the time he spent with these two made him realize a few things. Perhaps he should talk to these two more often, they weren't horrible people and actually quite nice to him. It was like his friendship with Hermione and Ron but with less…responsibility.

Without his notice, his shoulder had propped itself up against the carriage window and he had fallen asleep with the independent newspaper "The Brown Journal" lying by his side. The two girls looked up from their publications and smiled at the rare sight of a peaceful Harry Potter.

"It did not take you very long to find him. I honestly figured you would chicken out." Parvarti said softly, staring at the raven haired youth that had taken her out on one of the most fantastic, if boring, dates of her life.  
"I did not have much of a choice Parv, he fell into me in his cloak and I took advantage of a good opportunity." Lavender though was looking at the young Potter with a lot more interest in those sparkling brown eyes. She hadn't meant to speed up her plans so quickly, but perhaps this was for the best. Her senses were telling her that this was meant to be, and her divination skills were not so poor that she couldn't see a pattern in the midst of it all.

"Well, it looks like he enjoyed himself, and learning about his relatives was certainly more than I expected. He seems more open, something I would not have guessed after the Department of Mysteries stories started circulating."  
Lavender nodded. "I know, I was not expecting him to be so candid. But he may have just been too surprised to be guarded, who knows. I'll take what I can get."

Parvarti chuckled. "You are certainly a witch on a mission."  
Lavender grinned. "And the year is only just getting started."

_**A/N**_

_**Well that's the first chapter. Rather talky for my tastes but I wanted to give you all a chance to see the personalities that both Lavender and Parvarti possess. You'll also notice some differences with Harry, that aren't huge, but they will have an impact and this event clouding the beat down he was supposed to have with Malfoy will have greater ramifications than you think.**_

_**Tell me your thoughts everyone, I look forward to hearing from you all considering this is my first foray into fanfiction in quite some time.**_

_**-North**_


	2. New Ties

_**The Reporter's Process**_

_**I still do not own the HP Unvierse. I have to pay for my own college thank you very much.**_

_**Chapter 2: New Ties**_

_**I know that even for myself a story is not worth much to me if it doesn't have a few chapters, so I definitely feel the push to write more of this story. I genuinely hope you are all enjoying it and wanting to know what happens next.**_

_**Edit: I apologize for the double post. I forgot to add spacer lines and such.**_

* * *

Harry stirred awake to find the two witches he had been talking to earlier all ready for their arrival and whispering to each other. They noticed his alert state nearly immediately and Lavender updated him.  
"We are almost to Hogwarts Harry, you already had your robes on thank Merlin but you might want to make sure to get your trunk. The elves normally get them but you need to put your cloak away." She said with a very serious face. Parvarti nodded and Harry groggily realized the point of them saying it all. He had taken out his cloak to follow Malfoy, but now it was out and the open and both this girls knew about it. He couldn't change anything but he nodded and knew they were right, he would need to place it somewhere safe for now. He gazed outside the carriage to see the falling sun, and almost could not believe how long he'd slept. It wasn't like him to sleep in front of others, let alone two near-strangers. What was it about these two that he felt so comfortable with? Horror lit up his eyes as he checked himself and found that no pranks had been played on him but the sad truth that he had expected as much was beginning to shine light onto how much he felt safe around his friends. Likely Ron or Ginny would have played some trick devised by the twins, Hermione would try to get them to stop true enough but the phrase "He should know better" rang through his head in Ron's mischievous voice.

"Is something wrong Harry?" Parvarti asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Harry waved it off and said it was nothing before nodding to them both and saying goodbye while taking hold of his cloak and getting out of the carriage. He missed the shy smile that Lavender gave him but saw enough of Parvarti's smug grin to wonder just what had happened while he was asleep.

The noise of the carriages had died down, everyone was simply awaiting the time to go to the Great Hall now and it was easy to make it back to his original carriage.

It smelled of books, and chocolate. Ron and Hermione were already back from their Prefect meeting and greeted him right away. Ginny and Neville were talking to each other in whispers much like Lavender and Parvarti had been.

"Harry! Where were you? We looked all over the place but no one had seen you." Hermione said sadly, and it had Harry wondering whom they had asked and if they had found Lavender or not.  
"I just got sidetracked and took a nap. No big deal." He said nonchalantly, it would be easier than to play off his search for Malfoy, they had already made their opinions on that matter clear. He went straight to his trunk and put the cloak back in, pulling the attention of Hermione straight away as she questioned him about it. Harry didn't feel like it would be a stretch to say he needed the cloak for anonymity so used that as his excuse.

"Malfoy and Parkinson are their usual selves." Ron said grumpily. Harry figured the redhead would be happier about having the role, but it was obvious Hermione would continue to take Prefect duties more seriously. Harry mentally shrugged, it had been too much of a bother to fight over whose fault it was that Harry was Captain this year so there wasn't much point in bringing it up anymore.

"Draco did look a little worn though. Pansy looked highly flustered." Hermione added in. Her look was far more quizzical than Ron's disinterested one as he made his way through what looked to be a third chocolate frog.

"Do you reckon it was because of his Dad?" Neville spoke up, bringing all eyes to him.

"That depends. It may be for other reasons." Harry said diplomatically, he could have meant a whole host of things but he knew the moment he had spoken that Hermione would fly straight to the one she thought most plausible.  
"Harry, he isn't a Deatheater. There is no way that You-Know-Who would take someone underage." She admonished him.  
The irony in that statement nearly floored Harry. For someone who had been raised in the same muggle world he was, and perhaps hearing the same news of African child soldiers and the like it was no surprise to him in the least that Voldemort would start using younger candidates. Easier meat shields and twice the loyalty, he couldn't figure out why it was so implausible for Hermione to think.

"I don't know." Neville said, shrugging. "He would probably use whoever he could get his hands on. He is publically known to be alive again Hermione, it's hard to say what Voldemort would and would not do. I've heard stories of the first war from Gran, and he was pretty ruthless."

Ginny nodded, "Underestimating him might be a bad idea. I understand that Malfoy being an Eater might be kind of hard to believe, but in the very least I would think he might be sympathetic to their cause. He would help them even if he hadn't taken the mark."

Harry couldn't help but grin. That was an awful lot of support from his friends that he wasn't quite used to. Hermione could be his biggest supporter but also his biggest critic and the same went with Ron. It was nice to know that Neville and Ginny were going to give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

Quidditch talk ensued, with Hermione devouring some textbook and Neville challenging Harry to the last game of Gobstones. Everyone made sure they were packed correctly and Harry left with his friends to find the Thestrals in good condition. They neighed, or hissed, he really couldn't tell but he understood it as approval. Hogwarts looked as intimidating and fantastic as usual, it was home for Harry. Grimmauld place and the Burrow could never amount to the feeling of belonging that Harry got from being on Hogwarts grounds. He could feel himself already relaxing, even if this castle had held just as many dangers for him as safe places.

The Carriage rides were quiet, Neville sometimes sparked conversation with Harry and both young men knew somehow that the Department had brought them both closer in a way that probably should have happened since the very beginning. They talked about family, who was related to whom, and Neville informed Harry of the likelihood of Lordship once he was of age. Neville spoke wholeheartedly of despising the way the current Wizarding Government worked and the way it allowed both the demise of his parents as well as the death of the Potters. Harry's respect for the boy who could have been the "Chosen One" rose dramatically in the past few months and it was all earned.

Ginny stayed quiet, listening to them talk and nodding when it was appropriate but for some reason Ron could not stay in the talk, and simply said "It can't be that bad if my Dad works there…"

Harry knew that Arthur was the exception to the rule however.

Everyone poured into the Great Hall restlessly. Harry saw Malfoy looking as worn as Hermione had said he was. It was something to think about but it could wait for another night, he wouldn't ruin his first night here. Slughorn sat in the Potions Master seat, which left Snape to be the Defense professor. It was expected, but still quite the blow. To have his favorite subject taken over by such a surly excuse for a living being meant he would have to struggle through what should be his saving grace for the year.

"Welcome to a new year students!" Albus Dumbledore said commandingly from his podium, the owl statue hooting inquisitively in front of him. Dumbledore was aging rapidly since Harry had last seen him and the decrepit hand lay motionless on the podium hidden from view. The Sorting hat was taken out and a few new Gryffindors joined the table, although the influx of new students had dwindled significantly since the rise of Voldemort.

It was sad really, Harry thought, that so many people would choose to hide their children from the one knowledge that could end up saving them in the end.

Harry sighed, his frustration apparent and he knew he wouldn't be able to hide it. Ron and Hermione looked concerned for him, but Harry wondered for a moment if it was instead pity and the thought infuriated him for some reason.

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked slowly.

"Too few students, have you noticed how many are missing?" he asked quietly. To answer one question with another…he was turning into Dumbledore.

"Well it is rather odd. But it could just be a weak year." She responded calmly. Harry shook his head; she would deny it for as long as she could. No doubt the scar from her wounds at the Department hadn't yet fully healed; he could understand her wanting to distance herself from the situation. The question was, would she distance herself from him as well?

The Department was still a stain on his mind. Being tricked by Voldemort that easily set his stomach in a constant queasy state; he would have to ignore visions and at least attempt to learn Occlumency. He would try his hardest to avoid learning it from Snape, but there was only so much a boy could do and while he was very, _very_ resistant to admitting it; he was still a boy.

He looked towards the other end of the table where Lavender and Parvarti spoke with Seamus and Dean. Dean had apparently forgone sitting with Ginny this time around, and they all spoke animatedly or so it seemed. Lavender glanced over at him though and smiled; it nearly immediately brought one to his face as well. She nodded towards him and the rest of them looked his way as well. The boys got up quickly and went over.  
"Harry. We heard you were the one to talk to about tryouts this year. I know we haven't really been on the scene that much in terms of Quidditch but we'd really like a chance to see what we're made of." Dean said enthusiastically. The dark skinned Gryffindor was a few inches taller than Harry was, with a slimmer build but with far more energy than Harry could usually show. Seamus however looked rather put out with having to talk to him in the first place, Dean elbowed him but the Irishman wouldn't budge.

"You know Harry, my Mum wanted me to stay away from Hogwarts. I know I've been a real prat to you since fourth year, but…could you forgive a stubborn Irishman? I'm sorry Harry, I should have listened to you." He said quietly. It was almost impossible to hear with the rest of the chatter going on, but Harry could hear the sincerity cut through the air like a sharp blade. He nodded, and held his hand out and Seamus grinned before shaking the hand and nearly instantly opening up. "What do you think Harry? Could we try out this year?"

Harry grinned at the change of subject, and nodded. "Everyone will have a chance to tryout. But can I ask how you guys knew I'd be captain? It isn't posted until tomorrow morning at the earliest. And I know I don't have my pin on yet." Harry checked to be doubly sure, but he was right, his pin was missing from his robes.

"Lavender told us, she said if we wanted a real chance we should hit you up before the crowds." Dean said, needlessly pointing towards the slim blonde who was currently eating some dinner and squeaked when she realized they were all looking at her. How did _she_ know?

"Oh, well sure you guys can tryout. Tryouts are open in my book. Katie agreed that it would be the best choice for us seeing as I'm new to the whole Captain thing. Nobody really trained me in how I was supposed to do it and Katie only recently said she'd like to use her last year to study for her NEWTS."

Harry continued to tell them that tryouts hadn't been planned yet but they would be one of the first to know when he had it all sussed out. They smiled and waved goodbye before heading back to their seats. Harry sat there smiling and Ginny smiled as well. Neville even looked a little hopeful and if Harry had to guess why, he would be highly interested in how tryouts went this year. Hermione hadn't emerged from her book yet and Ron looked oddly impatient for some reason.

"So they are open eh? Anyone can try?" Ron rasped, eating all the while.

Harry shrugged, "They might as well be. Why?"

"Well not everyone is going to be any good." He said bluntly, and Harry almost choked on his pumpkin juice.

"Well probably not, but telling everyone to bugger off and let the 'good' people tryout would make me look like an ass."

Ron mumbled something but Harry wasn't very sure he wanted to know what it was anyway. Ginny hit her brother in the face with some mashed potatoes causing Neville to laugh until he had to abruptly stop at the glare he was given by the redheaded boy. Neville instead chose to high five Ginny and they both happily grinned and talked about something else. Harry had to wonder why Neville was sitting next to her while Dean was way over by the others, but he felt it wasn't his business and moved on. He'd punch whoever hurt Ginny regardless of who it was.

Dinner continued on in its usual fashion and by the time it was over and Ron went with Hermione to gather the first years Harry found himself yawning. As the Gryffindors were heading towards the Fat Lady, a few others came up and spoke to him. A few people apologized for giving him the cold shoulder due to the Voldemort issue and some just wanted to talk to him. It was rather nice, and made him feel more at ease than he had felt in a long time.

* * *

The fireplace crackled while a warm feeling spread over the common room. The relaxing atmosphere of the first night as everyone started heading to bed made for an excellent opportunity in Harry's eyes. He took one of the most comfortable chairs in front of the fire and took out his Transfiguration textbook and started reading. Before the Department debacle Sirius had told Harry many things about his parents, one of them being that James Potter was known for his Transfiguration skills and Lily Potter was just as well known for her Arithmancy and Charms skills. Harry had to admit that Arithmancy had never really appealed to him before, but he took a look at a few remedial textbooks on sale at Flourish and Blotts and decided to pick a few up. He was far too behind to take the classes at Hogwarts but a little self study would not harm him any.

Transfiguration and Charms were perhaps his main focuses. He wasn't taking Potions this year and Defense was sounding like it might be a bust so he set his aims on emulating his parents. He knew he couldn't be a carbon copy, and in all honestly he did not want to be known for simply living in their shadow. To Harry this was more about learning about them, their interests and what drove them during their short lives. It turned out that he was actually more interested in the subjects than he had anticipated. Transfiguration had always been an incredibly difficult class for him, but that was because he had been focusing on the practical use before mastering the theory, he had felt that doing something first would allow him to better understand the way it was done.

Well now he knew why he was pants at Transfiguration. Nearly all the textbooks state that the obvious is _required_ for mastering the magic. The fact that he was doing well at all in the class signaled that he might actually have a talent for it if he had actually bothered to do it right in the first place.

Charms was a little different. Flitwick was not a taskmaster when it came to theory; he usually had a mentality that if they could figure out how to cast the spell using concentration then the finer points of how they were accomplishing their goals would be better understood. This however was depending on a serious assumption that the students would then read on their own for a better grasp of the subject. Harry was not the most avid reader and since Hermione had always taken point in their studying it hadn't felt like a necessity to read anything himself.

It was lazy, and he knew it. But that was going to change. He couldn't afford to make any more mistakes now and if he wanted to live past another encounter with Voldemort then it demanded better performance.

These thoughts were interrupted by the grandfather clock chiming to say it was midnight. Meaning he had been reading for well over an hour. He blinked a few times and felt the exhaustion setting in, but noticed that he wasn't alone. On the other corner of the common room with a lit wand and several papers strewn out around her sat a very tired looking Lavender Brown. She was nibbling on a quill, writing on some parchment. Harry did not know why and would never be able to explain it later but he felt the need to get up and instead of heading to bed he walked towards the table where the blonde sat.

He didn't want to interrupt her thoughts, but it _was_ past midnight, they both needed sleep.

"Lavender?" he queried quietly. He did not want to spook her. He had enough experience interrupting Hermione to know that if a woman is concentrating on something hard enough it was like waking up a horse, you were bound to get kicked.

"Hmm?" she said lazily, not even looking up from the scores of parchment.

"It's past midnight. We need to sleep." He said, using the same tone.

"Oh! _Tempus_, you're right. I must have gotten lost in my thoughts." She said in the same quiet tones as the purple mist of the time spell faded.

"Why are you all the way over here anyway? The fire is over there." Harry said, yawning and desperately covering his mouth.

"You set up camp first and I did not want to disturb you. You looked peaceful." She said shyly, her eyes widening slightly as she ended the sentence and immediately went back to her notes, picking them all up hurriedly.

"Yeah…I guess I was." He said back with a smile, Harry noticed that he was doing a lot of that lately. He noticed one of the papers had an article on it though and before he could stifle his curiosity his mouth formed the words "What were you looking at?"

Lavender shook her head steadily and got up facing away from Harry. "Nothing really, just some notes for the classes coming up this year. Divination promises to be really challenging. Firenze really puts us through our paces."

Harry raised an eyebrow, but let it go. If she didn't want to talk about it, she didn't have to.

"Okay. Well goodnight Lavender." He said, not really knowing what else to say.

"Goodnight Harry." She said, walking quickly towards the stairway to the girl's dormitories.

Before Harry could reach the stairs to his own bedroom though he heard his name spoken and turned around to see Lavender biting her bottom lip. "Are the rumors true?" she said, deathly still and it seemed like the most important question to her.

"You might have to be a little more precise than that Lavender. There are a lot of rumors going around." He said back, and was floored but the joking tone he used. Since when did he joke?

Lavender seemed to smile lightly at the tone but still stood stock straight and looked him dead in the eyes. Her brown eyes were lighter than most, even lighter than Ginny's and had almost a honey coated look to them. They were alit with something, but he couldn't place it.

"The Prophesy." And those two words were all that she needed to say.

What was he going to say though? He was not supposed to spread it around, but the possibility that she already knew negated much of the threat. He needed to know more.

"What kind of Prophesy?"

Lavender looked down at her feet, and he swore he could hear her sniffle a bit as she continued.  
"The one that says you are the one to face…Voldemort. The one that states that you are the Chosen One. Tell me that is nonsense. Tell me that it is just the rantings of some half-bit warlock looking for a few galleons for false information. I need you to tell me that Harry."

So she knew. Harry wanted to tell her that it was false. Apparently that was what she wanted, to know that he wasn't the one that it all fell to. Did she not think he could do it? Why should she? He was only sixteen. But still he could not get his mouth to work the way he wanted It to. For some reason, he could not lie to her.

"It's true."

And as soon as those two words were said, Lavender began crying. Not the crying of someone hurt or wounded, but of someone truly and deeply upset like Harry had never heard before. Like a bullet she ran into him and his arms instantly wrapped around her. The unfamiliar feel of the physical contact was obvious for him, and with no other knowledge of what to do he just stood there and whispered that it would be okay. That was all he _could_ say.

"Why does it have to be you? You've already spent your entire life fighting these odds that just seem to rack up against you and yet every single _bloody_ time you just make it through. How many times will be enough? When will it be too late and you _won't_ make it? That isn't fair Harry; no person should have that much weight on their shoulders."

Harry sighed. In more than a few ways she was right. It was too much pressure. It was not fair and it was _**not**_ something he had asked for. But it was the way things were.  
"I'll do everything I can to make sure everyone is safe." He said, but before he could say anything else he felt a sharp punch to the rib that made him slightly breathless. The fire in Lavender's eyes slightly frightened him. The honey coated brown had turned into a blaze of warm brown and yellow.  
"No! You have to make sure that _you_ are safe. What is the point of all this struggle if you expect to die at the end of it all!" her voice had risen slightly, not loud enough for the rest of the dorms to hear but loud enough to make Harry's ears twinge at the volume with her being so close.

"What would you have me do? Run away? Leave Britain to deal with it on its own?"

Harry felt the heat grow inside him as well, but it was nothing compared to what he saw in the girl who even though being several inches shorter than him felt much taller in her rage.

"Doing something other than assuming you are just going to sacrifice yourself like some pawn in a chess game might help! All I hear when you say you'll keep everyone safe is 'I'll keep everyone safe _**except myself**_'." The voice she used to imitate him was nearly the most insulting thing he had ever heard, he sounded so weak and brainless when she said it.

"And how do you know that?" He said, venom growing in his tone to match the anger. This was getting out of hand.

"Because it is what you do!" She said, breathing heavily and still staring at him dangerously. Her notes lay in a heap on the floor unnoticed by either of them.

"And just why do you care so much what I do?" Harry said with a tone of finality. This conversation needed to end. The outrage on her face though told him that he had done the worst thing possible. He understood that look, it was pain. Pure, unadulterated pain. Why was she so hurt? What the hell was going on here?

"The question, Potter, is why the bloody hell don't _**you care.**_"

And with those words she took her notes and stormed up the stairs without a second glance back. Harry stood there for a few moments both surprised and not. Somehow he had managed to do exactly what he had planned to, but still somehow surprising himself by doing it. He had stepped in it somewhere along the lines. He knew what he had done wrong. But she had no right to be so…concerned about him…

'Oh bugger, I'm an arse.' He thought before heading to bed.

* * *

_**A/N Well that was surprising. The Dialogue flowed quite well this chapter I think. I honestly couldn't stop writing. I had to stop myself when I felt it had gone on long enough. A fitting ending to the chapter I think.**_

_**Tell me your thoughts. Do you enjoy the story or is it too much dialogue? I promise there will be plenty of action, but these first few chapters are primarily to get you acquainted with the subtle changes in our characters. Harry's new willpower and drive, Lavender's secretiveness and apparently rather heated side. This chapter did well in giving you guys more of a look into how the characters think and react.**_

_**As with all my work. Please review, I do enjoy it.**_

_**-North**_


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